Your Rights At Work

The Careers Service aims to vet vacancies so that only appropriate ones are advertised. We aim to give you as much information about a vacancy as we can, including hours to be worked, location of work, pay rates etc.  Keep in mind that, even though you may be working on a part-time or temporary basis, you do have rights at work - you are protected by some fairly new UK and European legislation.

Entering the world of work will introduce you to some new and challenging situations. Hopefully, everything should work out so that you and your employer both benefit from the work you do.

Here are some things you should be aware of:

• Checks employers can make on job applicants
• Employment contracts
• National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage
• Payslips: your rights
• Employment status 
• Rest breaks at work
• Holidays, time off, sick leave, maternity and paternity leave
• Agency workers: your rights
• Your contract and working hours
• Part-time workers' rights
• Your rights and trade unions
• Redundancies, dismissals and disciplinaries
• Online social networking and work
• Health and safety at work
• Discrimination: your rights

When you start a new job you need to check your terms and conditions of employment, including:

• how much you will be paid
• how you will be paid (eg cheque, bank giro credit, cash)
• and when you will be paid (eg weekly in arrears, monthly in arrears, 10 days after work is carried out etc).

In addition:

• keep full contact details of the company/employer should you need to contact them, as well as any wage slips you get
• check the number of hours you will have to work for jobs with "variable or casual hours" and check how often you are likely to be offered, or expected to, work.

Checks employers can make on job applicants  An employer may need or wish to carry out pre-employment checks depending on what type of job you have applied for.  There are many different types of checks eg references, background checks such as Disclosure Scotland, identification checks, security checks, health checks.  An employer who wishes to employ an international student is responsible for ensuring that the student has the legal right to work while studying in the UK.  The employer will ask to see the student's passport and possibly other documents and may wish to take photocopies for his/her records.

Employment Contracts  You may or may not be offered a written contract of employment by your employer.  If you don't have a written employment contract, your contract would have automatically been created when you started to work for your employer.

National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage  Every worker, aged 16 or over, is entitled to receive the National Minimum Wage.

You must be at least aged 25 to get the National Living Wage.

From April 2020, the National Living Wage and the National Minimum Wage is:

• 25 years and over - £8.72
• 21-24 years - £8.20 per hour
• 18-20 years of age (inclusive) - £6.45 per hour
• 16-17 years of age (inclusive) - £4.55 per hour

There are some exceptions to these rules - find out who gets the minimum wage

• For information on minimum wage, advice on your earnings or to make a complaint, telephone the Acas helpline on 0300 123 1100.  Or use the Acas helpline online to ask questions.
• If you come across an employer who has advertised via the Careers Service and who does not pay the minimum wage, or the wage stated in the job advert, please report this immediately to us.
• Anyone can make a complaint about an employer who does not pay the minimum wage.  See the GOV UK website:  Complain about pay and work rights.

The Glasgow living wage is £9.30 per hour as of 1st April 2020.

Payslips: your rights  Is your employer required to give you a payslip? What details should be on your payslip?

Employment Status: Do you know if you are a "worker" or an  "employee"?   The definition of "worker" and "employee" differs slightly so make sure you know which one you are.

Rest breaks at work includes rest breaks during the working day, daily rest and weekly rest

Holidays, time off, sick leave, maternity and paternity leave

Your rights as an agency worker including paid holidays and work in the entertainment & modelling industries

Your contract and working hours  More on overtime, in-work breaks, working at night, Sunday work, flexible working, working time limits

Part-time workers' rights  Part-time workers have the right not to be treated less favourably than comparable full-time workers in their contractual terms and conditions. 

Your rights at work and trade unions  Trade Unions are organisations that represent people at work. Their main purpose is to protect and improve people's pay and conditions of employment. It may be possible to join a Trade Union at your place of work.

Redundancies, dismissals and disciplinaries  You should be aware that if you become involved in any kind of dispute with your employer, neither the NUS nor the Careers Service will be able to assist you, as neither party has the resources.  It is solely the responsibility of the student to bring any legal action against an employer.

• The TUC (Trade Union Congress) is the national organisation which represents trade unions in Britain. See Workplace Guidance: help and advice for working people.  
• Citizens Advice Scotland: Work also has good information on employment issues.

Online social networking and work visit workSMART from the TUC.

Health and safety at work including employers' health and safety responsibilities; fire safety in the workplace, workplace temperatures etc

Discrimination: your rights